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A few posts ago I mentioned: Body Image.

I was talking about a potential second book to Just Call Me Is. It would focus specifically on body image from a mindfulness standpoint, for tweens.

Well that was about a month or more ago, and now, that book is finished.

At this point I am 90 percent sure I will be doing another Kickstarter for this sequel book, as I did for the first. The only hesitation is that a Kickstarter is a huge undertaking. And I feel like I’ve only just finished asking my friends, peers, and family members to support me.

It’s a vulnerable thing, reaching out like this – especially with material that is so vulnerable and important to me – and especially two times in a row.

It brings up all sorts of insecurities and self-doubts. Will this one be supported in the same way as the last? Will people be so tired of me asking for things that they’ll put up a wall? Should I just – stop?

But then I remember what I’ve learned over the years, not just about the power of vulnerability(thanks Brene Brown), but the art of asking. (Apparently, I watch a lot of Ted Talks.) If the asking comes from a place of honesty, of integrity, and yes, of vulnerability – not of manipulation or selfless inconsideration – you’re at least being as real as you can be.

And in the case of many a Kickstarter, you’re not asking for yourself; you’re asking for your project. Your art. Your expression. You’re asking for help to help the world.

Rather, I am.

Come February, I hope you’ll forgive me when, once again, I make an ask of you. Not for me, but to support a project that I think could really help tweens and teens and one day adults – so that they don’t have to grow up so haunted by body image as you and I did.

I’ll keep you all posted as this (potential/likely/but absolutely terrifying) Kickstater gets further underway.

Love,

Natalie

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For those of you who don’t know, JUST CALL ME IS: AN INTRODUCTION TO MINDFULNESS is coming out oh so soon, on December 1.

A mere 26 days later, I have another book coming out called THE TIMELESS TALE OF PETER ABLE. It’s not a book on mindfulness – but it is a fun look into the world of Fiction; what goes on behind the page when we’re no longer reading. It’s the second in the best-selling Peter Able series.

All that to say, somehow, I felt I just wasn’t busy enough, apparently, because just last week I began work on another book; a sequel to JUST CALL ME IS. That’s right – you heard it here first. There will be a sequel to “Is.”

(As a matter of fact, there will be at least three in the series, if not more.)

The entire series will be told, once again, from the reader’s Inner Self. Now that we’ve gotten an introduction to mindfulness and totally nailed it, we can dive deeper into some of the most pressing issues that kids face today. In book two, that means body image.

This has been an issue I’ve had my own demons with since I was a kid, and honestly, I don’t know a single person who isn’t affected by it in some way. So, once again, I’m introducing a story, a journal, a workbook, and really, a friend, to the kids who need it when they need it most.

Expected release: 2017.

Don’t worry – I’ll keep ya posted. 🙂

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Remember that one time when I said I was going to write a blog post per month?

Yeah, that was funny.

Please, allow me to include my list of worthy excuses at the end of the post, so as to save some time here.

The reason I’m writing now after something of a hiatus, is more or less just to let you all know that yes, I’m still alive, and yes, I do plan to keep up with this blog. Occasionally.

That being said, I’m not going to make it my number one priority. I realize more and more that life is best spent outside and face to face with other people, rather than peering into the (albeit mysterious) depths of my computer screen. It’s about dancing, and laughing, and playing. It’s about connecting with people, acting a fool, and falling. Always falling.

This is the life that I want to live, and this is my priority. When writing fits into that, as it is now, I will joyously sit down in front of my computer screen or typewriter and type away- but more and more, forcing myself to write feels like a grind. After all, people tend to work so hard always in hopes of some day, some day finding the time to really live.

Now, I’m not saying that writing is always work – in fact, much of the time it’s a beautiful mediation for me. But I think I’ve decided to go ahead and retire from work – writing when it feels like work, exercise that feels like torture, spending time with people who feel like a job – and instead, allow myself to play and let things present themselves to me, rather than chasing them down. Things like the urge to sit down and write – like now; things like ideas, people, and circumstances. Things like opportunities, experiences, and abundance.

When you’re not searching for these things, it’s funny how they present themselves to you. And by funny, I mean Extremely Obvious-Why-Don’t-We-Remember-This-All-of-the-Time-When-We’re-Banging-Our-Heads-Against-the-Wall-Just-Trying-to-Make Things-Happen.

So I’ll be back to write more, maybe in a week or two, maybe in a few months, maybe next year.

PEACE.

WORTHY LIST OF EXCUSES
1. I have been focusing my attention on other things*
2. My mind has been elsewhere
3. A raccoon broke into my home and rummaged through my trashcan, found nothing but paper, so he stole my computer and left a menacing note
4. I’ve decided to go into politics under a pseudonym that rhymes with Ernie Flanders.
5. Contemplating the universe
6. Deep meditation
7. Chinese finger traps

* improv, spending time with friends, family stuff, see point No. 3….